Office Overview

The Central Illinois Weather Forecast Office is located at the Logan County Airport in Lincoln. The office is along state highway 10 east of town, just east of Lincoln Christian University.

What We Do

The Lincoln NWS office provides warnings, forecasts, and other weather and climate information to the public, media, emergency management, and other customers. Our office is open around the clock, 365 days of the year. The Central Illinois WFO is one of 122 that are operated by the National Weather Service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Our office opened in 1995.

Forecast and Warning Area

The Lincoln NWS forecast office is responsible for 35 counties across central, east central, and southeast Illinois, covering a total of 19,343 square miles. Additionally, we serve as the liaison between the NWS offices that cover Illinois, and the Illinois State Emergency Operations Center.

Our County Warning Area includes the cities of Bloomington/Normal, Champaign/Urbana, Decatur, Effingham, Galesburg, Jacksonville, Peoria, and Springfield.

Warning Coordination Meteorologist (Chris Miller):
The WCM coordinates all warning functions within the office. This includes conducting spotter training, and working with local emergency managers and media personnel. The WCM will fill forecast shifts as needed.

Science and Operations Officer (Llyle Barker):
The SOO is the office's principal and senior science advisor, and is in charge of all systems training for the employees. The SOO makes sure that the staff is kept up to date on advances in meteorological forecasting and warning operations, and makes sure our products meet local, regional, and national NWS standards. The SOO will fill forecast shifts as needed.

Data Acquisition Program Manager (Billy Ousley):
The DAPM oversees data collection, quality control, and dissemination of observational data from the office. This includes the operations of the cooperative observer program, climate data, river observations, and upper-air observations. The DAPM will fill in on data acquisition shifts as needed.

Service Hydrologist (Darrin Hansing):
The SH is in charge of the office's Hydrology Program. This involves river, flood, and water-supply forecasts, and necessary research. The hydrologist is the primary contact with external agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The hydrologist also fills in on data acquisition shifts as needed.

Electronics Systems Analyist (Ed Martin):
The ESA is in charge of overseeing all equipment maintenance at the office. This includes the local computer network, the main AWIPS computer system for the office, heating and cooling systems, the Automated Surface Observation System at area airports, the Doppler radar, and upper-air observation equipment.

Information Technology Officer (Bryan Schuknecht):
The ITO provides applications and program support for the office. This includes installing, configuring, and maintaining local applications, as well as programs and scripts in both the Windows and Linux operating systems.

Administrative Support Assistant (Debbie Johnson):
The ASA performs technical aspects of all administrative programs and activities for the office. This includes items related to budget, funds control, purchasing, procurement, contract monitoring, property, personnel actions, time and attendance, etc. The ASA also operates as a liaison with NWS Central Region Headquarters, and works with the Administrative Support Center on adminstrative-type matters.

Electronics Technicians (Kyle Clark, Mark Stacey):
The electronics technicians are responsible for maintaining the equipment needed for forecast operations. This includes the Doppler radar, automated observing systems, upper-air equipment, office computers, and NOAA Weather Radio systems. These technicians often have to work outdoors in all kinds of weather.

History

Our office opened in 1995, as a merger of the existing NWS offices in Peoria and Springfield. The twice-daily weather balloon launches began in February of that year, and warning operations began in late September. Forecast duties for central Illinois airports were transferred from the Chicago NWS office in April 1996, and we began routine public forecast duties in July 1999.

For a more complete history of weather services, visit the following links: